20 years!

This is the speech that I will give at my 20-year service anniversary presentation later today:

I became a mom for the first and second times when I was 37 which is pretty late by Utah standards, and those little boys are my whole life. So, I’m just now experiencing firsthand what many of you have already experienced thousands of times. That is: every time I say “thank you,” or “good job, buddy,” or “I appreciate your help,” or “I’m proud of you” my guys radiate with pride. I can almost see their sense of self-worth growing right in front of me. It is the best feeling in the world.

As a company, that’s what O. C. Tanner does for grown-ups, and I’m very proud to work for a company whose entire purpose is to promote a person’s sense of self worth.

I want to thank all of you for being my friends. I want to thank those of you closest to me for occasionally being my family. I’m grateful and honored to work alongside each of you at a company whose mission we all should be very proud of and dedicated to.

Arts & Crafts

This is what every art/craft project looks like after about 30 minutes:

Costumes

The stinkers are supposed to be knights for Halloween. Here are the cheap costumes that we bought them:

I hate that I'm buying costumes. I really want to be the mom that makes the BEST costumes/treats/decorations, but right now, I'm lucky to get breakfast made. [Sigh.]

We went to a carnival at a local school on Friday night. There were bounce houses, a cake walk, a pick-a-nose prize game (uber-gross), football toss, haunted hallway, hay ride, hot dogs, popcorn, nachos, cotton candy and a lot more. We didn't want to be knights.


All pictures are taken with my phone because we can't find our digital camera. Just like we can't find a pair of scissors, mom's reading glasses, and several kitchen utensils. Is anyone surprised by this?

In honor of PFC Jordan Byrd

I don't know the Byrd family, but last week their son became the first soldier from Tooele county to die in Afghanistan. The county has really done a great job honoring him and his sacrifice. When his body was returned, 1000+ flags lined SR36 from Lakepoint to Tooele - all 19 miles. All of the businesses in town had thier flags at half mast, and many of them mentioned him in their marquees.

He had only been in Afghanistan for three weeks. He received special permission to deploy later than the rest of his platoon so that he could be present for the birth of his first/only child who is now just three weeks old. It's horribly sad. He will be laid to rest tomorrow.

GLPU halloween party

We went to the gay parent group halloween party last weekend. It was hosted at a home out by Baccus Highway. That's as much as I can say since it took us 30 minutes to find the house. It was a lot of fun, and the family (2 dads, 8 kids) did a great job. The boys had a blast jumping on the trampoline, running around, eating cookies (although they did start out with carrots, fruit, and peas), and playing games. Here are two pictures from the spider web game. (Ball of yarn, kids in a circle, throw it back and forth, wrap it around you when you catch it, drop spider in center, scream and try to get out to run away.) Sweets and her girls were there as well as Weenie and the twins. P & S were in Alaska, so we missed them; Bek's entire house had the flu, so they missed out, too.


No, their faces aren't dirty - those are supposed to be whiskers or scruffy beard. They didn't want to wear their costumes, so they just ended up looking like kids with dirty faces.

fire fighter for an hour

We were headed home from the park one Saturday and passed the town's fire house. All of the engines were on display as well as various other rescue vehicles, the fire station was open, people were milling around, and kids were spraying the fire hoses. We stopped, of course, and had a cookie, watched a Ses*me Street movie about fire safety, got new pencils, and sprayed the fire hose! Peanut was all over the hose, but Meatball was a bit hesitant. He had to "help" mommy spray it before he would take it over on his own. It was pretty cool; the engines are amazing!



Not a great quality picture, but they got to sit in the driver's seat and talk on the walkie-talkie!!! It was pretty cool.





Meatball finally takes control of the hose.





You're not a fireman until you scrinch your nose up against the glass.





Gimme that hose! No hesitation, that boy.

Afternoon on the farm

Wheeler Farm is fun. Fun. Fun. Fun.
Oh - and tractors ROCK! We could sit on these all day long.

good advice

The following question was asked on a local news show this morning: What was the best advice that your mom gave to you?

When I turned 18, my mom sat me down and said "Anything bad that you do now can land you in jail, will be on your record, and there is nothing that I can do to fix it."

And I was the good (nerdy, geek, no social life) kid. Imagine what that conversation was like for the other four kids!

Bad dreams?

Boys' door opens, closes, and I hear little sobs. Peanut walks into the TV room where I am sorting clothes. I hug him close.

Mommy: Did you have a bad dream?
Peanut: Uh-huh.
Mommy: Do you know what a dream is?
Peanut: No.
Mommy: It's when you see pictures in your head while you are asleep.
Peanut: OK.
Mommy: Did something scare you?
Peanut: Yeah.
Mommy: What was so scary?
Peanut (pauses): Can you tell me some scary things?
Mommy (thinking I don't want to put any ideas into his head): No. What if I thought something was scary, but you thought it was funny? That wouldn't be good. Like a toot. What if you made a toot, and it scared me. Aaaahhhkkk!!!
Peanut (giggles): Toots aren't scary, mommy.
Mommy: What about a burp? Yikes!
Peanut (giggles): Burps aren't scary.
Mommy: So, what were you scared of?
Peanut (pauses): A BURP! (Laughs like crazy)

Then, he went back to sleep.

Once bitten, twice shy

Meatball was bitten once this summer by a mosquito. Let's face it; that's never an enjoyable experience. However, for the Meatball, it has stayed with him, firmly ingrained in his memory. So much so that he is "bitten" at least 60 times per day by a mosquito. These mosquitos usually swarm around him when Peanut is getting some attention, and they are apparently quite vicious and tricky.

This scene is played out several times per day:
Meatball: Ow-ow-ow! [fake crying]
Mommy: What's wrong?
Meatball: I got a mosquito bite!
Mommy: Oh no! Where did it bite you?
Meatball: Right there!
He then points to various parts of his body like the sole of his foot (even though he is wearing socks AND shoes), his tongue (even though his mouth was closed), the top of his head, his arms, his tummy (even though he is wearing a shirt and/or jacket), legs, ears, cheeks, and hands. In fact, one of these "mosquitos" even managed to bite his eyeball last night. Pretty impressive mosquitos, dontcha think?

We should like that

During almost every toy commercial on TV, Peanut will watch most of it and then say "We should like that toy," meaning "Mommy, please buy that for me."

Mommy: Who wants to go to the store with me?
Boys: Not me.
Mommy: You don't want to go to the store?
Peanut: No, and YOU don't want to go to the store.
Mommy: But I need to go buy some milk.
Peanut: No, you don't want to buy some milk. But, you should buy some trains. We should like that.